Proposed FY 2016 Skilled Nursing Facility Payment and Policy Changes

On April 15, CMS issued a proposed rule (CMS-1622-P) outlining proposed FY 2016 Medicare payment rates for the Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) Prospective Payment System (PPS). Based on proposed changes contained within this rule, CMS projects that aggregate payments to SNFs will increase by $500 million, or 1.4 percent, from payments in FY 2015. This estimated increase is attributable to a 2.6 percent market basket increase, reduced by a 0.6 percentage point forecast error adjustment and further reduced by 0.6 percentage point, in accordance with the multifactor productivity adjustment required by law.

The proposed rule also includes:

– Implementation of SNF Quality Reporting Program
– Implementation of SNF Value-Based Purchasing Program
– Changes to staffing data collection

For further information, see the SNF PPS website. Public comments on the proposal will be accepted until June 15, 2015.